Soft and hard capsules or casings have been employed in the pharmaceutical field to encapsulate a variety of therapeutic and nutritional liquid compositions. Similar technology has been employed in the sports and leisure fields to contain dye formulations within capsules adapted to rupture upon impact with an intended target. Liquid dye compositions encapsulated within gelatin casings, collectively and commonly known as “paintballs,” are designed for use in conjunction with a projectile device, such as a “paintball gun”. Generally, such dye capsules have the physical properties in which the casing is hard and impact resistant enough to survive high velocity projectile forces, while at the same time adapted to rupture and release the dye composition upon high velocity contact with the target surface. “Paintball” is now a recognized and popular sporting activity, played by thousands of men and women throughout this country, as well as thirty other countries worldwide.
When employed in competitive activities wherein the objective of said activity is to identify the accuracy of marking the intended target, it is desirable to optimize the visual results of a successful contact with the intended target. Dye compositions used in paintballs are available in a wide variety of bright colors. The particular color can be used, for example, to identify the source of the paintball after firing. In addition to a clearly visible coloration applied to the surface of the target, the effects can also be enhanced by the dispersing or “splatter” capabilities of the dye composition upon rupturing of the casing. These visual objectives must, however, be balanced in conjunction with certain physical parameters, such as cleaning from fabrics, overall weight and the ability for the liquid dye composition to be contained for a prolonged period of time within the casing material without substantive degradation. Furthermore, regulatory concerns must be addressed as well, such as toxicity of ingredients.
Some currently available dye compositions used in paintballs contain a dye in conjunction with hydrophilic carriers containing a mixture of high and low molecular weight polyethylene glycols (PEG). Among the disadvantages associated with currently available dye compositions include tenacious or permanent staining of target fabrics, freezing and solidification of the dye composition during exposure to colder temperatures, and separation and precipitation of dye composition ingredients during storage, and a thin consistency.
At least one attempt at a chemically altered paintball has been made. U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,092 issued to Haman et al. on Apr. 7, 1987 entitled Target shooting capsules paintball discusses a target shooting capsule comprising a substantially spherical, nontoxic, soft elastic gelatin capsule having a dry wall thickness of about 0.004 inches to about 0.013 inches, having a diameter of about 0.16 inches to about 0.265 inches, and containing about 0.03 cc to about 0.12 cc of a water washable, nontoxic fill material. The fill material utilizes a silica thickener, which affects the ability of the fill material to adhere to a surface, thus producing a fill material unacceptable to most paintball players.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,962 to Stoltz shows a dye composition having an emulsifier and a lipophilic carrier for a paintball. The emulsifier necessarily includes ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides that thicken and concentrate the splatter from a ruptured paintball as shown in the Figures of that patent. While such may be acceptable to accomplish the object of that patent, such deviations from traditional paintball performance are not readily accepted by established players and hence undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,978 issued to Liu et al. on Nov. 14, 2006 entitled Seamless BB paintball discusses a paintball utilizing the principle of repulsion between oil and water, the differences of surface tension of oil and water, and the character of melting of gelatin materials in high temperature and solidification in cold temperature to produce a biodegradable seamless BB paintball for BB guns. It contains a colored edible oil solution and is safe when it hits the target to produce an obvious mark that is edible. The seamless paintballs so produced are consistent in size and weight. It reduces the possibility of jamming during shooting and loading of BB guns which are common complaints of the conventional BB paintballs. A specially designed double nozzled machine can produce oil-in-water perfectly round and seamless droplets. The oil solution contains the dyes and the water solution contains a specially formulated gelatin. The droplets are then solidified by a chilled cooling oil flow. The oil solution comprises of 1% 5% (W/W) edible dye in edible oil. The water solution comprises of 10% 34% gelatin that can also consist of 1% 10% polyethylene glycol (PEG), 1% 10% starch and 0.1% 1% edible dye in distilled water. As noted by Stoltz, the use of PEG as a carrier allows the fill material to run after impact upon a surface, staining more of the surface than desired. This characteristic of the Haman fill material produces a paintball unacceptable to most paintball players.
Each of these patents is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
There exists a need in the field of sports and leisure, as well as the zoological field, for improved technology relating to impact-rupturable capsules containing dye formulations that enhance the paintball while maintaining characteristic performance attributes. In particular, there is a need to improve the desirable attributes of impact-rupturable dye capsules by enhancing the properties of the dye formulations within while simultaneously maintaining the expected performance characteristics of the capsule.